Since Google declared that page speed would become a ranking factor a few years ago, it has been a heated topic. What I’m attempting to say is that speed is that it’s only one of many ranking variables and that there are other key SEO best practices to follow in order to rank in Google search.
So the million-dollar question here is then why do agencies, developers and freelancers try to put so much emphasis on site speed. In fact, many agencies try to sell their proposals on speed and mention quotes like
Google recommended page load time is under two seconds: “Two seconds is the threshold for e-commerce website acceptability. At SOME_GEREIC_IT_FIRM_NAME, we aim for under a half-second.”😂😂😂😂
With complex data structures and algorithms, security checks, DB serialization etc it is difficult to load a site so fast. In fact, if you check websites like amazon.com and other such popular tech giants they too score an A or a B. In fact, amazon scored a C in gtmetrix and 67 on the google speed test. I have added the site report below for you to check.
PS I KNOW PHOTOSHOP AND SOME ADVANCED WEB MANIPULATIONS BUT THIS IS NOT A PHOTOSHOP IMAGE 😛
Performance Report for amazon.com by gtmetrix
Don’t get me wrong: it’ll be difficult to rank your website if it loads like it’s from the 1990s. However, anything in the 60+ range should be adequate as long as you earn a good score in page speed insights. After all, is said and done, the problem of speed isn’t a significant deal as long as your site loads soon enough.
As an experiment, I propose that you use your mobile phone and keep it connected to your mobile network while checking the speed of your website. Check the same in a private tab as well if you know how to. If your site loads soon enough its good and instead of being a perfectionist and aiming for a flawless score of 100, focus on other SEO ranking factors such as keywords, content, and favicons.